To anyone who is waiting for an update on "In Dreams": I promise there will be one shortly. Maybe even two chapters at once! In the meantime, though, this story is coming along quite well and I wanted to start posting. This is just a short chapter to introduce the situation - which is one I'm sure you're familiar with - and to establish Will's POV. The next chapter will be longer.

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended. I'm simply a girl with too much imagination who likes to play with fictional characters who don't belong to me.

Falls the Sword

Chapter 1: Fade Away

She was the woman of his dreams, and he had wanted to marry her for years; twenty minutes ago, he finally had.

Now he was lying on the deck of the nightmare ship, the Flying Dutchman, with a sword at his throat, and the cold words of Davy Jones ringing in his ears:

"Tell me, William Turner… do you fear death?"

No, he thought defiantly, but he wasn't going to answer, no matter what happened.

And then another voice from somewhere behind Jones, throwing the question back at him:

"Do you?"

Jones spun quickly, turning away from Will, moving to the side enough for Will to see Jack Sparrow – sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow – with Jones' heart in one hand and a broken sword in the other.

Relief: his pulse slowed and his breathing calmed. He turned toward Elizabeth, saw her smile back at him.

Jones was still staring at Jack.

"You're a cruel man, Jack Sparrow."

"Cruel is a matter of perspective."

"Is it?"

And then Jones moved, he was spinning back around and his sword was in his hand – that damned sword – and then Will's whole world exploded…

Pain, white-hot and burning, tearing mercilessly through him; the blade was twisted in the wound, torturing him with an extra burst of agony…

His vision blurred, and everything seemed to be obscured by a grey mist, but then Elizabeth emerged from the obscurity, he could see her clearly, and he could feel her warm hands on his face.

"Will? Look at me, stay with me! You're all right!"

As badly as he wished that the words were true, Will knew that Elizabeth didn't believe them any more than he did.

He wanted to say something to her, to tell her one more time that he loved her because she was an angel, she was his angel; but he couldn't speak, he couldn't even breathe, and everything was fading into the pain…

Suddenly he was dimly aware that there was someone else next to him, but he couldn't turn his head to see who. He felt something in his hand, but he didn't know what…

Let me tell her I love her, one more time, he thought desperately. Please, just one more time… But he couldn't. His vision was darkening at the edges, and the sounds of the fight and the storm and even Elizabeth's voice seemed so far away.

But I'm not ready to leave her yet… I'm not –